As Miranda Lambert said, "Forget your high society, I'm soakin' it in kerosene"

A weekend or so ago, my parents came over to help me with yardwork, as James was tending to the family ranch. Of the yardwork tasks, taking down a dead tree was high on the list, so my dad starting digging as mom and I planted flowers. The tree was a live oak, maybe 3 years old, and since we bought the house, the tree had died. We assumed it was affected by some disease. However, we noticed the grass at the base of the tree was dead, and there was a strong petroleum odor as my dad broke ground. Could it really be? Was this a nice way to ask us to cut down that particular tree? (we have approx 15 trees onbour lot, 8 of which in the front yard. This particular tree was close to our and our neighbor's front door, so we planned on removing the tree prior to his death anyways). "hi welcome to the neighborhood, I'm going to douse your tree and kill it so you must remove it?!?" Any suggestions or advice? What on earth do we say? I hope more trees aren't killed in this manner! Normally I habe pretty good advice for people, but I completely lack wisdom for this situation. Previously I just used to ignore people; isn't it too early to start ignoring or holding a grudge against my neighbor?! I had absolutely no idea the "hardships of home ownership" everyone warned about included dealing with odd neighbors; I thought people meant killing bugs and replacing appliances! Any suggestions?! ~Rachel

Stopping to smell the Roses

Lately I have been way too caught up in wedding planning and house remodeling/decorating. Just the other day I realized how quickly March and April have gone by. Looking forward to the future, whether it's being married, having furniture, having a garden, having our friends back in DFW is actually addicting. I've been constantly focused and wishing it was the summer that I've let almost a third of 2012 fly by me. What could I have done instead of looking toward the future? Spend more time with friends and family here? Visited college friends more? Learned to play the piano, again?

My point is, I personally get ahead of myself by planning in my calendar, checkbook and to-do list. I spend so much time planning I forget to enjoy the present time. I've been this way for years: "once I'm in college... When I have an apartment...after I get a job...when I'm living in my own apartment...after I've graduated from college...when we have furniture...after The wedding... THEN I'll be able to do this/enjoy life/relax."

My goal for the rest of the year? Learn to slow down, stop and smell the roses. I only live this life once, I need to stop planning for the future and live in the now.

So, how do I add that in my to-do list? Should I schedule smelling the roses every Tuesday evening? How much will that cost me to buy roses? ;)

Constantly learning and looking towards Heaven for help in this life.

~Rachel